Whenever I write a post for this site, I pass it by my Editor in Chief (aka my wife) to get her perspective on the content and maybe catch a grammatical or spelling error I missed. Generally, she gives me a thumbs up and I publish it.  Not so yesterday.  She felt my subject was so inflammatory and controversial that I might end up with the guys with black raincoats and dark glasses showing up at the front door.  So, bowing to her wishes, since we’ve been equal partners in our marriage for over fifty years, I hit the delete button instead of publish, and so self censored myself.  Did I do the right thing?

For many years, but particularly since the beginning of the Politically Correct movement, people have forgotten there is such a thing as the First Amendment, which guarantees Americans the right to express their opinions, even if they are objectionable, even abhorrent, to others.  Yes, there have always been common sense limitations.  Not shouting “FIRE” in a crowed theatre is the most commonly stated example of that fact. However when someone in a position of power in the government has the ability to “weaponize” that power against an American citizen who holds different views, we have a completely different situation.

This phenomena became all to prevalent during the Obama-Biden administration, when the IRS, FBI and other government agencies were used to spy on, and even entrap and prosecute individuals who held differing views and had the courage to express them in public.  The cases of General Flynn and Roger Stone are classic examples of those abuses.  It should be noted that none of the major individuals who perpetrated or authorized these acts has been held to account, with the exception of one low level FBI lawyer.

Should the results of this very questionable election be allowed to stand uncontested, it will be a green light for more and worse examples of this government overreach to occur. So, as I told my wife,  if I were single, I would have published the post in question, and been willing to take whatever punishment a vengeful bureaucracy was going to dish out, fighting each step of the way to overturn it.  However, as I said, I must respect her advice and wishes in this matter.  I just hope that I never grow too old or tired to continue to tilt at the windmills of crooked politicians and the constituency which elects them.